The Uchiha Gift
by Decidedly Stories
Summary: Five years after the 4th Shinobi War, Sasuke still travels the world to stop the poison he has spread across the land. He stumbles across a small village with a young boy with the same eyes as him, but this is impossible. Itachi killed everyone in the entire clan in the massacre, right? So who is this boy and why does he remind Sasuke so much of himself?
1. Chapter 1 - The Unbeaten Path

**The Uchiha Gift**

 **Setting:** 5 years after Naruto and Sasuke reformed the world after the 4th Ninja War.

 **Context:** I haven't watched any Boruto and don't really plan on it, so there may be inconsistencies with that. I read the last manga chapter of Naruto, so I know what the pairings are, but that's where I ended.

Chapter 1: The Unbeaten Path

With the bat of an eye, five years had gone by. Time had spun by in a whirl of haze, and the number of apologies and homes Sasuke rebuilt had numbered in the thousands. And yet, he was still far from done. The Shinobi world had barely survived its Fourth Ninja War, and it would take decades, maybe centuries before wounds healed. Sasuke only had one hand to help, but any embers of a possible Fifth Ninja War would be smothered by him. He owed Naruto that much. He owed the world that much.

Instead of taking the main path to the Hidden Sand Village a second time, Sasuke wandered off the beaten path and through the outer forests of the Fire Country. And there, he found music.

The trees sang as the late morning rays rippled down onto their leaves in mists of gold. The boulders hummed as birds and mountain goats hopped along its steep edges. The waters tip-tapped their own rhythms as they rushed between river rocks. Sasuke was desperate to find a corner of the world not devastated by the war, and it seems he may have found it.

But before he could unwrap the sticky rice and boil a few tea leaves as he did every day, he heard the peculiar sound of… laughter.

"Stop! That's cheating!"

"So? You just cheated too!"

"Yeah, but it's fine when I do it!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm Naruto!"

"So? I'm Sasuke! I kicked your ass the majority of the time!"

 _Children._ Sasuke couldn't believe he heard the sound of children in such a beautiful albeit desolate place as this. He hadn't seen or heard anyone for miles and suddenly it seemed as if there was a tiny village just beyond the treeline. He wondered if Kakashi or anyone else back at the Hidden Leaf village knew such a community was here.

"Ahhh! Kyuubi! Back demon!" the kid playing Sasuke shouted. "Uchiha powers, activate!"

"Ooohh!" the kid playing Naruto mocked. "A scary little red eye. Are you sure you just didn't pop a vein?"

The two boys jumped on each other, trying to pin each other down, not unlike the sparring matches back at the academy. Their forms were poor, but it wasn't as if they had world renown senseis out here to help them hone their abilities. Sasuke was sure whatever they came up with just came from natural instinct or improvisation.

"Who are you?"

The cool sting of black metal pricked the back of Sasuke's neck. There was an assassin behind him, and despite only having a kunai in hand, the placement of it on Sasuke's neck was less than to be desired. The Uchiha was a Sannin in every right, a legendary warrior in every eye, but he was not invulnerable. The tip of a kunai at the wrong spot could be as fatal as a full-powered Kirin to the chest.

But drew most of Sasuke's surprise was how someone from a remote village as far-removed as this one had the power to suppress his presence and chakra enough to catch Sasuke off guard. Granted, he did not have his Sharingan nor Rinnegan activated, but he still had the prowess of a first-class shinobi. Whoever the kunai-wielder was, he was not to be taken lightly.

"Just a man passing through," Sasuke said quietly.

"Shinji! Kenta! Go home!"

The register of his voice was still high. Definitely a boy, but not one that had fully matured yet. Now Sasuke was truly tickled. The kunai-wielder was a boy not much older than ten or eleven.

"Ehh?" Shinji moaned, wiping the whiskers off his face. "But we're in the middle of a battle here!"

"I'm not joking," the boy said.

Kenta snuck in a quick punch into Shinji's shoulder and the two ten year olds ran after each other and disappeared into the thick of the forest.

"Stop sensing them," the boy ordered. "Or I'll cut you down right here."

Sasuke could easily sense their energy patterns, but he was more interested in the boy behind him than the two Naruto and Sasuke imposters. He cut his flow of sensory chakra which almost felt like turning off a switch that had been on since he was twelve.

"I'm going to ask again," the boy said. "Who are you?"

Sasuke sighed, and when his shoulders slumped, his neck followed, along with the kunai without giving him any room to bend. "I told you. I'm just a man passing through. I have no interest in your village if you think I'm here to harm it."

"I don't believe it," the boy said. "Your chakra is far too powerful to be just a man passing through. Even one from Konoha. I felt it from miles away."

"Shouldn't you have hid then?" Sasuke asked. "Those who can feel such a threat usually hide and wait until it passes."

"I wouldn't have approached if you hadn't come across Shinji and Kenta," he said calmly. Far too calmly for a ten year old. "You watched them for a long time. I couldn't tell what you were thinking."

Sasuke knew he was still being interrogated, but couldn't help the curiosity building around the boy behind him. If he could truly feel Sasuke's presence and chakra as he claimed, he should have known that exposing himself like this could likely end in his death. Even if it was for the sake of those other two boys, most children were not ready to greet death so calmly and with a steady hand.

"The only thing I'm thinking is how lovely this corner of the world was left untouched by the war," Sasuke said genuinely. "There were no villages marked here on the map, so it was a surprise to see children running about."

"Then please leave," the boy said. "We don't want any trouble."

"That was my plan," Sasuke returned.

The boy lowered his kunai and the second he did, Sasuke whirrled around, catching the boy's wrist, ready to teach him a lesson since they probably didn't have any senseis nearby. The boy had talent and Sasuke wasn't to recognize that. The kid shouldn't have lowered the kunai at all, but jumped away and let the kunai fall where it may. Now Sasuke was in close enough range that he could easily kill him without a missed step.

But before Sasuke could find the words, the boy flipped back and threw a whole slew of kunais right at his face like a barrage of bullets, each one deadlier than the last. Sasuke deflected each one with his sword, but was surprised at the accuracy and rhythm at which the knives appeared. The boy threw one high and followed with one low. He threw one left, and another right to catch him if he dodged the first one. The boy wasn't blindly tossing knives out, hoping one would hit, but purposely timed them from one to the next.

As the final clatter of metal hit the ground, Sasuke found the boy striking the perfect defensive stance to hold his position. Running wasn't an option with Sasuke easily able to catch up, so the boy's knees bent yet firmly planted, ready to strike or side-step at any moment was the best scenario for him to enact.

"I just wanted to show you what could happen if you released the kunai prematurely as you did," Sasuke said. "Relax, I have no intention in staying here long."

As he said those words, Sasuke immediately wanted to retract them. He had only felt the boy's presence and hadn't seen him in the proper light until now. His jet black hair swept down, but still flared out similar to his own. He had a white bandage draped underneath his eyes and over his nose similar to one of the proctors at the Chuunin exam, and his skin was a pale beige hue.

But most importantly, his eyes were blood red with the light of the Sharingan.


	2. Chapter 2 - Who Is He?

**Chapter 2: Who Is He?**

Sasuke was at a loss for words. He never allowed his mouth to stand agape for others sought weakness in his surprise, but his jaw hung lower than it ever had before. He was tempted to activate his own Sharingan and place the boy under a genjutsu to siphon all the information he needed and more, but that would've been something the old Sasuke did. He couldn't act like the criminal he had been for the darkest five years of his life. He couldn't allow Naruto to stomach that shame if it ever got out to the world that Uchiha Sasuke had reverted back to his cruel and ruthless ways.

No, he would have to ask the boy as if his genjutsu had been forever sealed away.

"Your eyes," Sasuke said. "H-how did you get those eyes?"

"I didn't steal them if that's what you mean," the boy answered.

That could have been a lie. There was no irregular skip of his heart or hastened beating for Sasuke to tell. The boy was learned. Trained even. He could have been one of Danzou's old test subjects implanted with some of the stolen Uchiha eyes as a fail-safe in case he lost his wretched arm.

"Stick out your tongue," Sasuke ordered.

"What?" For the first time, the boy seemed surprised.

"If you know that I'm a threat, you must know that you don't stand a chance," Sasuke said. "So stick out your tongue or I will make it happen."

With a short gulp, the boy did as he was told. Sasuke inspected the tongue as closely as he could, but there appeared to be no markings on the little devil. Even in death, Danzou's seals would not have disappeared off his subjects. The boy wasn't part of the Root. This boy wasn't his.

"How old are you?"

"Ten."

 _That's impossible…_ Sasuke's head was firing bolts of lightning in every direction, trying to make the connection. The boy was too young. Too young to have been around before the Uchiha massacre. Had his mother or father managed to slip by Itachi's hand? It was a possibility. After all, it was difficult to coordinate when all the Uchiha clansmen were all within Konoha and not assisting with missions and such. But even in that scenario, they would have had to give birth to the boy after the attack and not just managed to safeguard him like the Fourth and Kushina did for Naruto.

"Where's your mother or father?" Sasuke asked.

"I never met them," he answered curtly.

Nothing was registering. How could an Uchiha be born out of an Uchiha parentage? His coal-black hair, the frayed pattern of his bangs, the paleness of his skin, the eyes - everything about the boy screamed Uchiha clan. He was only missing a red and white fan on his shirt to complete the picture.

"You're an Uchiha," Sasuke said.

"No," he said. "They're criminals. The lot of them."

"With those eyes, you are. You must have known your eyes are different from everyone else's," Sasuke said.

A shiver of the boy's wrist made the metal clink in his hand. "You know what my eyes are?"

 _He doesn't know anything about the Uchiha. Maybe he's part of a distant branch of the Uchiha that skipped a generation before him. From the look of things, he probably has more questions than me,_ Sasuke thought pensively.

"Put down your weapons, and we'll talk."

"I don't think so."

And suddenly, the ground beneath him disappeared and Sasuke found himself falling into a prison of mud and stone.

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for reading along so far. Would love it if you left a review! :)


	3. Chapter 3 - The Boy Named Uchiha

**Chapter 3: The Boy Named Uchiha**

The flickering warmth of a fire and the cool breeze whipping his hair in front of his face lifted Sasuke away from the realm of dreams back into the realm of consciousness. He was sitting at the base of a stone pillar, but the detonation rope looped around his body, around his wrist, and around the pillar several times before the looping around all three of them entirely. His neck and forehead were also tied back with the same detonation rope, and not a gap was left between them. He would barely be able to swallow if he were fed food or water as the rope was tightly wound between neck and stone. And the blindfold over his eyes seemed to be an extra precaution.

Sasuke should have never been caught off guard, but he had never dreamed he would see the Sharingan in someone other than his own reflection again. Until he had his own child, the clan was essentially gone. With his difficulty in connecting with others, he found the revival of his clan to be a harder task than ever before.

But even as he lay with his body bound to the stone column, there were ways to release himself. The boy and his friends didn't truly know the abilities Sasuke possessed. But Sasuke wouldn't escape just yet. He wanted to speak to the boy and perhaps this was the best way to do so.

"Kid," Sasuke said. "What's your name?"

The stick poking at the fire suddenly stopped, and not even crickets chirped after that. He was a quiet and reserved one. Another staple of the Uchiha name. Sasuke was used to others talking up a storm, but when faced with another one of his own, he needed to find the words he never could before.

"Kid, it's clear that I lost," Sasuke continued. "What is your name?"

Another, heavier presence stood up. Sasuke assumed this was the person who activated the mud prison while the boy had him distracted.

"My name is Asami. If you would like to speak, please speak to me," the woman said.

Her voice radiated power far stronger than any woman Sasuke had ever known. She wasn't brash, screaming obscenities, high-pitched, squealing, or giggling profusely. She had the strength in her tone that he had only heard in the Fifth once before. The Fifth during the battle against Madara - as a mother protective of her children. _That_ tone.

"Are you his mother?" Sasuke asked.

"I help raise any orphans I find on the outskirts of the Fire Country," she said. "Isui was found without anyone nearby."

 _His name is Isui…_

"Did you give him that name?"

"My mother gave me that name," he interjected.

Though Sasuke couldn't see, he felt Asami stiffen. She seemed just as surprised to see the boy interject as strongly as he did.

"I think we are the ones who need to be asking the questions," she said. "Who are you and what do you want with Isui?"

Should he tell them who he was? There were inherent dangers that came with that, and he wasn't sure if a peasant village in the outskirts would be enough to handle that.

"Rock Lee," Sasuke answered. "I'm just on my way to the Hidden Sand and I came across the boundaries of your village, I presume. I didn't mean to intrude."

Rock Lee came from a relatively unknown family, so that was naturally the first name that popped into his head. But after the words escaped his mouth, he shrunk down, wondering if they had heard of the loudest ninja Konoha had to offer, second only to Uzumaki Naruto.

"You were walking far off the main path," Asami said.

Relief. They must have never heard of the Lee clan so there were no more questions to be asked of it. His identity was still safe for now. And without ever activating his Sharingan, that meant they didn't know he and Isui channeled the same bloodline either. The beauty of finding the true hidden villages of a country was truly that - freeing.

"Because I heard what sounded like fighting, but it ended up just being two kids playing 'Ninja' I presume."

"No, we were playing Naruto and Sasuke!" one of the boys shouted.

"Be quiet Kenta!" Asami shushed.

"That no longer interests me," Sasuke said. "What interested me is Isui. What does he know of his mother and father?"

"Why is it important to you?" Asami asked.

"I can tell he's curious about his eyes," Sasuke said. "What did you tell him about those?"

"Just that they're special," Asami said. "I don't know what they are, but as far as I've seen, no one else has them, so he is."

"You're not wrong," Sasuke said. "He is special. He can see things that no one else sees. He senses movements at a pace no one else can keep up with. And he probably found himself understanding and copying other shinobis without the years and years of practice it took them to master their craft. Now you tell me, Asami, Isui, anyone who wants to answer - am I wrong?"

The crackle of the firewood split into two. The silence told Sasuke everything he needed to know. The boy had no idea he was an Uchiha and his world was about to change.

"How do you know that?" Isui asked quietly.

"Because I knew many people who possessed the same power you do."

Isui crawled closer. Asami tried to pull him back.

"Isui!"

"I just want to know," Isui said. "Someone finally _knows_."

Isui sat right beside Sasuke and through the weeds sprouting out of the cracked stones, Sasuke could feel the boy's chakra, radiating like a sun. A sun, an untapped well, a powerhouse that didn't realize the capability within himself yet.

"Why are my eyes cursed?" Isui asked.

"They are not cursed," Sasuke said. "They belong to one of the strongest clans in Konoha. The Uchiha clan."

Isui suddenly stiffened. The pool of energy in his chest had chilled to an icy degree, and instead of a barrage of rapidfire questions, only silence returned him.

"The Uchiha clan is cursed," Isui said quietly.

"Yes, but cursed from its time and place in the Great Shinobi Wars," Sasuke said. "Times have changed now. If you are an Uchiha or not, the world should hold no bearing on who you are and what you can do."

"I… I don't want it…" he said.

Isui suddenly took off running and though Sasuke wanted to chase after him, the pillar kept him bound to his post.

"Isui!" Sasuke shouted.

The pitter-patter of rushed feet on forest brush soon faded into the symphony of night, and he was gone.

"He never saw the Uchiha clan in a good light," Asami said. "They had caused so much pain and destruction of Konoha, he had a difficult time processing the fact that the Hidden Leaf was able to forgive Uchiha Sasuke for his crimes."

"H-how much do you guys know about what happened during the Fourth War?" Sasuked asked slowly.

"Not much. News doesn't travel quickly out here," Asami said. "But we had heard about the crimes of Uchiha Sasuke and how the Uzumaki Naruto was willing to sacrifice his life and the world to save his friend."

"Naruto wouldn't have sacrificed the world," Sasuke said adamantly.

"If Naruto had died battling Sasuke before the Infinite Tsukuyomi hit, the world would have ended then and there. While Naruto was very noble to do that for a friend as far gone as Sasuke was, it was reckless of him to be so stubborn about it when the world needed him more. That's just the way Isui saw it."

Sasuke understood the sentiment. He had battled that shadow of a past for years and still continued to this day. With time, he realized he could never change a mind set on believing that, but no one was lost to a change of heart. Naruto had taught him that much.

"I don't plan on hurting him or anyone from your village," Sasuke said.

"We don't even know who you are and how you know so much about the Uchiha," Asami said. "And you want us to release you?"

"I can help Isui hone his powers with the Sharingan," Sasuke said. "I'm the only one who can."

"And how's that?"

"Because…" Sasuke breathed. "I trained with Copy Ninja Kakashi, one of the last men in this world to wield such a power. I can train Isui to learn how to control his curse, instead of letting it control him."

* * *

 **A/N:** Lolol Sasuke taking Rock Lee's name. I never thought I'd see the day...


	4. Chapter 4 - Trust

**Chapter 4: Trust**

Asami was quiet. She didn't believe him yet, he wagered. The easiest way would have been to show her his Sharingan, but that would've immediately marked him as the one and only Uchiha Sasuke, and he wasn't sure he wanted to venture down that path just yet. Anonymity had always been his first line of defense.

"Who were his parents?" Sasuke asked. "He said his mother gave him his name. That must mean he remembers her."

"She died in the attack against Konoha. Sand and Sound ninja…"

Flashes to the Chuunin Exam tore through Sasuke's mind as he remembered the explosion in the Hokage's booth and the monstrous Gaara losing his grip on Shukaku. Though the attack was not something Sasuke was at the forefront to witness, he had come back to see the village in shambles and in desperate need of rebuilding. Many had died that day and there was no shortage of photos for villagers in light of the Third's passing. He could've only imagined that many died that day with no one to remember them. Especially those who lived on the outskirts.

"Did she have the Sharingan too?" Sasuke asked.

"The red eyes? Isui can't remember. He was too young. It's doubtful though. I don't think she had ever been to Konoha, let alone be a part of the infamous Uchiha clan."

The theory that Itachi had spared a clansman or clanswoman of the Uchiha was fading quickly. But the idea held little water anyway since Itachi had killed their parents under the Leaf's orders, only sparing Sasuke for the sake of being the older brother he was first and foremost. Sasuke couldn't imagine Itachi spared an unknown Uchiha of a far branch when his own mother and father were cut down.

But what other explanation was there? The boy was too young to have been around during the massacre and whose parents wouldn't have been spared by Itachi.

"What does Isui remember about his mother?" Sasuke asked.

"Nothing much," Asami said. "He was maybe only one or two at the time. And when they were being chased by the Sand and Sound, she hid him before getting caught and killed. Luckily Isui was such a quiet kid, even as a toddler, they never knew she was carrying a child with her. She wrote his name into his blanket, presumably wanting him to keep his birthname, wherever he decided to go."

"Do you know where she was killed?" Sasuke asked.

Though he couldn't see, he could almost feel Asami's eyebrow raise in skepticism. "Why?"

"I want to see if I can find anything there that might give Isui the answers he needs," Sasuke said. "The only way to help him understand the powers of his eyes is to learn from what branch of Uchiha they came from. Even if she wasn't Uchiha, she might lead me to who was."

"You…" she started. "You really want to help him, don't you?"

"I do," Sasuke said. "I owe a debt to the Fire Nation and its people, and I can help Isui better than just about anyone else considering Kakashi is busy serving as the Sixth."

The ropes fell away from Sasuke's forehead, neck, and only led Sasuke to the conclusion that Asami must have been struggling with Isui and the Sharingan for a long time to accept help from a stranger in a snap of a few fingers. In moments of desperation, people sometimes did the most unsightly of things, but Sasuke had no desire to trade away this good will for nothing. He could've easily escaped his binds, but this way, Asami had formally placed her trust in him.

"Thank you," Sasuke said, pulling the blindfold away from his eyes.

"She died in the south east side of the forest near the waterfall," Asami said. "That's where I found Isui and buried her. And this is how I marked it..."

Asami took a pen and drew a curved 'x' onto the back of Sasuke's hand.

"Thank you," he said gratefully.

Sasuke whistled a five-note tune, and a red-tailed hawk spiraled into the night sky above. With an added note escaping the 'o' of his lips, the bird dove down like a bullet and found its way into perching on Sasuke's shoulder. With a dab of ink, he scribbled a quick note onto a small parchment before rolling it up and tying it onto the foot of his trusted messenger.

"What are you doing?" Asasmi asked, her voice ringing with alarm.

"My best friend is very close to a girl in the Hyuuga clan. Tracking is a specialty of mine, but if there's anything left from a decade ago that I wouldn't be able to trace with my abilities alone, she would undoubtedly be the best person to help with that."

"What's her name?"

"Hyuuga Hinata."

* * *

 **A/N:** Dang... short chapter. I could've combined this with the previous one. But at least Hinata's making an appearance in the next chapter! Will she work well with Sasuke? Will Naruto tag along? The possibilities are endless :O


	5. Chapter 5 - The Help of a Hyuuga

**Chapter 5: The Help of a Hyuuga**

Sasuke stared up at the rushing waterfall. He should try to get some rest as he usually did during the afternoons, but his mind was still reeling from the situation, so it seemed only necessary to quiet the stirring questions by tackling them one by one before Hinata arrived. Questions that might only be accomplished once he found out who Isui's parents were.

They could have been no-name Uchihas. The clan was large enough to have them. Sasuke was part of the main house, treated like royalty - the young prince of the clan, but there were many that weren't. It was very possible that an Uchiha married out of the village and the Sharingan skipped a generation before appearing in Isui. Sasuke could have been chasing ghosts that held no bearing.

But at the same time, this was his clan. A clan nearly erased from existence by the Leaf or the Uchihas themselves, it differed depending on who was asked. Still, any thread that could have been held onto, must be held onto. Sasuke owed the legacy of his family that much.

With the sound of water pinging against rock in harried chaos, the waterfall charged onward. The Hirua Waterfall was a lost treasure within the wilderness of the Fire Country and many would never know of its existence. It was only after years of trekking in and out of the nation that Sasuke discovered such gems for himself. He hoped Hinata would be able to use the coordinates and sense his chakra to find him for the forest was dense and easily confusing.

As he reached the base of the water curtain, he realized how ideal it would have been to hide an infant here. While that alone wouldn't be able to shield a child from the most adept of shinobis, at least it gave the boy a higher chance to survive. His mother had the right idea if the Sound and Sand had already caught her presence.

"Sasuke-kun!"

A young woman of long dark-purple hair and lavender-white eyes zipped forward, through the thick of the trees and right at the base of the waterfall beside him. Her skin had gained a healthy glow and she had rid the fluffy jacket she often hid behind. Loving the yellow-haired, goofy moron had definitely agreed with her.

"Hinata, thank you for coming," Sasuke said, taking a slight bow. "I know I had asked for you on such short notice."

"From your message, it sounded urgent," she said.

"I'm surprised you didn't bring Naruto along with you."

"Your message requested that he and Sakura stay behind," Hinata said. "It was a struggle, but I managed to convince them both that this was important to you that only I should come."

"I'm surprised," Sasuke admitted. "I thought I would definitely be fighting his loud-mouthed insults at this very moment."

Hinata laughed. "Trust me, he was holding onto me, desperate to go too. I had to poke one of his tenketsu points to keep him leaving the village with an arm attached at my hip. He kept saying how he couldn't let you steal me away like you did Sakura-chan."

Sasuke let out a light smile. "I wished this could be a social visit, but it's not."

"Right, you said it was too important to write in a note?"

"I couldn't take the chance that the letter might be intercepted," Sasuke said. "Garuda has never failed me before, but this boy isn't something I can take a chance on either."

"What's so special about him?" Hinata asked.

"Sharingan," Sasuke said. "He has it."

A valley of cold silence swept between them. The same gambit ran through Hinata's mind, Sasuke was certain. It was impossible. All the Uchihas apart from him were gone. This. Is. _Impossible._

"Every question you have running through your head is one I've asked for myself for the last 24 hours," Sasuke said. "The boy is only ten, maybe eleven. His mother died when the Sand and Sound attacked Konoha back during our Chuunin exam. By every account, he should never have existed. Itachi wasn't allowed to spare anyone from the clan. Not his lover, not his parents, only me."

"You think his mother or father managed to escape the massacre?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know. I can't imagine Itachi leaving a loose end though. When he's tasked with a mission, he does it. When he has to make the hard decisions no one else can, he does it. It's difficult for me to see that he missed an Uchiha by accident or spared one out of pity."

"So you want me to help search the area?"

"Yes," Sasuke said. "With the combination of my Sharingan and your Byakugan, if there's anything left in this forest, we would be the ones to find it."

"Okay," she nodded. "Where do you want to start?"

"See if you can find a grave," Sasuke said quietly. "Asami said that she buried his mother and took him with the other orphans running about."

Hinata nodded and placed her hands together to concentrate the chakra to her eyes. With the strike of a match, the veins beside her eyes bulged and crackling appeared inside her irises. The world became an inverted image of shadows and highlights in blacks and whites, but with the absence of color, the lines between objects became more pronounced and accented.

"Anything?" Sasuke asked.

"Not yet."

The two shinobis had rarely worked together in the past, and he truly thought about it, Sasuke wondered if he had ever shared a training session or mission with Hinata. Though they haven't, it seemed as if they flowed on the same wavelength. While he scanned the forefront and surface of the landscape around them, she came closely behind, focusing on obscure outlines and anything beneath the surface. They conquered a vast amount of area very quickly and far more efficiently than any other duo would've, he wagered.

They had barely exchanged two words to each other for their entire adolescence, so Sasuke was surprised she jumped at the chance to help him. Perhaps that was Naruto's power as well. Even if she harbored no kinship to him, her bond with Naruto was strong enough to extend that far.

The sun was ready to dip beneath the treeline and though Sasuke didn't have an appetite to eat, he could see that Hinata's movements were slowing and her chakra was waning. She didn't want to be the reason they stopped, so he would have to.

"Hinata, let's take a break. It's been a long day," he offered.

Hinata, face dappled in beads of sweat, smiled and nodded. Sasuke always had difficulty displaying care for others in times in which their lives were not in danger, but Sasuke was learning. Slowly but surely, he was noticing the limitations of others and doing his best to accommodate them. Target practice, chakra concentration, and setting traps seemed much easier in comparison.

Sasuke collected a handful of bark and flaking wood, and threw it into a small pit. With a tiger seal and a chest full of chakra, he blew a soft fireball onto the collection of twigs, and allowed the fire to take on a life of its own. He set his small pot over it and began cooking some beef stew from his pack. With a few chives and garnishes he picked up along the way, the aroma began to fill their noses with the homely scent of spice.

"You must travel long distances to be as prepared as you are," Hinata noted.

"Fixing the Fire Country from the outside doesn't allow me to stay long in one place," Sasuke said. He ladeled a bowlful of stew for her before doing the same for himself. The steam rose up and massaged their faces as they soaked in the aroma before dipping their spoons inside.

"Sakura-san misses you," Hinata said. "She knows you're doing important work, but she wished you would come back more often."

"Even if I could, I'm not welcome there like you or Naruto are," Sasuke said.

"That's not true," Hinata protested. "Breaking the Infinite Tsukuyomi-"

"Is a pindrop of good in the sea of horrible things I've done," Sasuke said. "I don't fault anyone for thinking they way they do about me. I deserve it. Whatever rocks they have to throw at me, they're entitled to it."

"You cannot let the past haunt you like this," Hinata said.

"I'm not letting it haunt me. I'm embracing it," Sasuke said. "I shouldn't be living a happy and normal life. If I did, there would be no justice in this world."

"But…"

"I'm going to continue searching," Sasuke said, changing the subject. "You can rest. My eyes are more adept in the dark anyway."

Sasuke stood up and continued scanning the area he had left off. Hinata continued chewing on the cube of beef, but after a few moments, she stood up as well.

"I said you should rest."

"I am rested," she said. "And I also want to be a kunoichi worthy of standing side by side with Naruto and his closest friend."

Naruto had an effect on people to bring out the best version of themselves, but not to be discounted, it seemed as if Sasuke had his own effect. The effect of challenging someone to find their limits. Naruto felt this, and it seemed, so did Hinata.

Even as the sun set, the two continued combing through the area. Through shrub-brushes, trees, roots, and chipped boulders, they searched. Through the release of his Sharingan, the world unfolded in gray shadows and dull red highlights. His eye traced the land, searching for something. Anything.

"Sasuke-kun! I found something!"

Sasuke rushed over and found a light carving in stone. The cuts may have been deeper at a point, but the stone had been beaten, bruised, weathered, and eroded. He was lucky to have seen a marking there at all. He raised the back of his hand to match the mark, and there was no mistaking it - a curved cross that resembled Asami's penmanship to the tee.

"What do you see?"

Hinata stared down into the shallow grave and saw the outline of a woman not much older than her. She could tell by her size and the development of her bones. Senseless attacks were just that… senseless. Though Hinata had slept through the majority of the attack from the Sand and Sound, the attack from Pain was the reality she had known all too well.

"Only her bones," Hinata said. "You wouldn't be able to salvage anything else."

"Is there anything buried with her, like papers, a journal, jewelry - anything like that?"

"I think there's a small book tucked underneath her tunic…"

Sasuke fell to his knees, placed his hands together, and took a moment of silence as he apologized to the heavens above. "Forgive me…"

" _Earth Element…_ " he whispered.

With just a palm, the soil above her body crested to a side. Flesh had long since decayed, and only dirt-encrusted bones remained. Hinata turned away as Sasuke tipped his hand underneath her tunic and pulled the small book out from underneath. Dirt had caked onto its cover and pages. The paper was warped from years of rain and salt. He wondered if what was inside was even legible anymore.

* * *

 **A/N:** There's something beautiful about Hinata and Sasuke - not romantically - but as friends who harbor a deep mutual appreciation for Naruto, so this chapter was a lot of fun for me. Seeing them talk about Naruto behind his back is just fanfiction gold so it had to be done.

Love those reviews! Keep 'em coming! Next chapter is going to reveal a heck of a lot of detail on who this Uchiha kid really is.


	6. Chapter 6 - 10 Years Ago

**Chapter 6: 10 Years Ago**

His hands held the one book that might unlock the secrets of Isui's mother. He shouldn't have trembled as he moved to brush the remaining clods of dirt and gravel off its cover, but he did. He may be standing at the foot of an Uchiha grave and the feeling was not something he ever got used to.

Sasuke flipped to the first page, and though the pages were yellowed and brittle, to his relief, the ink had stayed.

* * *

 _September 18, D980_

 _19 fish._

 _25 roots._

 _Boil over a medium fire with three cups of water._

* * *

The dates were from several decades ago, not just the one, and most entries were logs about the birds, animals, and food from the nearby area.

"Anything useful?" Hinata asked.

Sasuke continued to flip through, and suddenly, after several years, the passages grew longer, and the logs turned into journal entries. The girl had turned away from fishing and foraging in the remote areas of the Fire Country and took up a job at the local teahouse in Shinja, the tiny village not too far from where they were.

* * *

 _No customers today. If this continues, Shuno is going to have no need for me and I'll need to find work somewhere else. I don't want to leave the village, but I may have to since it's so far from the main road and anything that might intrigue a traveler or two._

Sasuke flipped the page.

 _Two customers! I don't know why this made me so happy. They seemed weary from their travels, and stopped in for a cup of hot tea and some dango. I was embarrassed that we didn't have any dango as it takes such a long time to import the flour for the dough and no regulars come to order it, but the man was so kind. He was just thankful we were able to host him at all, and he paid twice as much as he should have. I couldn't possibly accept it for just two cups of tea, but he insisted and told Shuno that he was lucky to have me working at his teahouse. I missed him the moment he left. Important business in Konoha, he said, but nothing more than that._

 _I don't know why I wait by the door as if he'll come back. Maybe I'm hoping that his business in Konoha is short and he'll take the side route on his way out, but that's unlikely to happen. I bought some flour from the market and started kneading the dough to make fresh dango, but I'll likely have to eat for it myself if no one buys any._

* * *

Sasuke flipped through the next few pages and his eyes darted through the words like a rabbit in the woods. It seemed apparent that the dango was not very good when she started. She began working hard at the task as she went village to village, trying to sell her creations. Though she had come to terms in the realization she would never see her stranger again, she felt a newfound purpose in perfecting the dumpling craft. He had inspired her that much with just one fleeting moment.

Hard work will overcome. Naruto believed it and so did Sasuke. Even if everyone proclaimed him to be a genius, he would have been as weak and muted as a failed academy student if he didn't hone his skills, day in and day out. Even those who did something as simple as making dango, it was a skill to be learned and a skill to be mastered. Before the girl seemed to have little to no calling in life, trudging on day by day, but the stranger had seemed to give her a something to strive towards, and that was not a feat short of inspiring.

* * *

 _I did it! I sold a whole basket without even trying this time! I didn't even have to go door-to-door as I usually did. Everyone came running up to me, and I sold out in the first twenty minutes! I was so shocked. The elders said they've been waiting for me all week! They said they have never had such good dumplings in their lives, and the fact that it's delivered right to their doorstep is heaven on a plate. I feel like I could jump so high, I could fly!_

* * *

"Anything important?" Hinata asked.

"Maybe… I'm not sure yet…" Sasuke answered, but held his tongue the moment he flipped to the next page.

* * *

 _I shouldn't be here right now. I should be dead. My heart has never fluttered like it does now. My body has never been alight with thrill, and my head has never been spun like a top._

 _The stranger was staying in the local inn and visiting the teahouse every day for the last week when I was selling dango to the neighboring villages! I didn't faint… but I was light-headed because I knew it had to be a dream. He was sitting in Shuno's teahouse, drinking a cup of green tea, and reading a book! Though before he had kept his collar high and his cloak covered, I knew it was him. From his words alone, I knew._

 _He has a slight husky tone in his voice, and his words are never hastened, never in alarm. His voice is always calm and genuinely appreciative. I swear I have never met a kinder soul than him._

 _He said he was on his way back out of the Hidden Leaf, but couldn't go before trying one of my famous dangos he had heard so much about. I wanted to get to know him better. I wanted him to stay. Maybe it was petty, but I started blubbering excuses as to why I couldn't make any dango yet. The flour hadn't come. The season for the best beans had just passed. Yellow cane sugar was still on a caravan heading this way. I know it wouldn't have kept him behind if he was in a hurry to go, but to my surprise, he stayed. He wanted to try my dango before he left, and that seemed important enough to place all other engagements he has on hold._

* * *

 _While we waited for the ingredients to arrive, we had more time to talk. He told me he had difficulty opening up to people, so he apologized in advance. His eyes were deep. Charcoal black, but filled with sadness, but stern with no regret. I only wanted to touch him, to hold him, to nestle my head into his shoulder, and tell him everything was going to be all right._

 _I told him of my family. No-name father and a no-name mother who lived peasant lives and died in an oxen accident. Unfortunately there was nothing exciting or heroic about that, but they did pass on some good judgements to me before they parted. I wanted my child to grow up loved, cherished, and above all, ambitious. The village I had grown up in has its beauty, but I made an oath for my child to have more than I ever did._

 _He asked me what I thought if my child was loved truly and deeply, but never knew it. Would it matter? I believed it would. I would want to have a son or daughter to know that he or she was loved even if I couldn't express it. But as I said that, he fell silent again, fighting inner demons he couldn't confess._

* * *

 _The ingredients for the dango came today, and my heart sank as they did. I made the dango slowly and precisely, not wanting the seconds to pass as they did. But when they finally did, I had to let him try one._

 _Again, I'm a terrible woman. I took a bite and threw the rest away. They were trash. I didn't want him to taste trash._

 _I made them again, and the second batch was just as horrid as the first. But when I binned this batch, I noticed Shuno replaced the trash bag and collected it after they were tossed. I ran to the back and saw him eating them in the back of the store! The nerve of that man!_

 _I told my stranger that perhaps there was something wrong with my hands and that they would stop shaking tomorrow. He smiled gently and said if that were the case, he would be back tomorrow._

* * *

 _I'm an absolute mess. I dropped the pans. I turned the oven too high. I slipped and threw the flour into a bucket of water. I apologized for my clumsiness, and I couldn't understand why._

 _That's when he held my shaking hands and pulled me close to his beating heart. He asked me if I was finding excuses to keep him from leaving, and I couldn't find an answer for him to respect._

 _I wanted to say no and that I'm just a peasant girl without an ounce of grace, but my head just dug into his chest in a quick nod. His arms were strong like steel. His eyes met mine, I swore they flickered red, and he said I was falling in love with a damaged man. He wasn't sure how many years he had left on him, and he had a mission he still needed to fulfill._

 _He asked if that mattered to me._

 _It didn't._

* * *

This was the man, Sasuke was certain. This was the Uchiha he had been seeking. The charcoal eyes, the flicker of red, the black hair. The eyes that knew sorrow and melancholy like no one else did. The next page was going to tell him exactly who he was, but only… it didn't.

The next passage was many months later. An entire gap of time was not accounted for, and Sasuke was beside himself with anger. The stranger had left the Fire Country, and perhaps he asked her to never disclose his name, but Sasuke needed it more than ever.

* * *

 _Pregnancy is hard. Everything hurts. Everything is out of reach. I don't understand how other women do this._

* * *

There was only one passage left - the final written page in the journal.

 _Many asked me if I regretted him. A man who came and went as quickly as a sunrise and set. I didn't and I never will. Because of him, I strove for greatness. Because of him, I have a beautiful baby boy to love and to raise. Isui has the same face, the same eyes, and the same kindness as his father did. I will love him always. I will love him forever._

 _I only wish Isui had a little brother like he had._

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry for the bazillion lines separating the passages, but fanfiction doesn't allow for dashes to signify passage jumps? That needs to change...

And OMGGG so we all know whose kid he is, right? ;) Happy Friday everyone, and leave a review if you can!


	7. Chapter 7 - In Flames

**Chapter 7: In Flames**

Sasuke's pupils trilled in place. His hands grew cold and his face dotted with sweat. His breathing grew rampant and his chest started to heave. The Third Hokage had granted Itachi access to the village if he ever wanted to discreetly check in on Sasuke and the village. Had he taken the Third up on that offer? From the looks of things, he probably did.

"What is it?" Hinata asked.

"I… I don't know…" Sasuke stuttered.

The whole idea of a boy of only 10 years old with Uchiha blood was fishy. The Leaf had a truly cruel, dark side to them twenty years ago, and they barely allowed Itachi to spare Sasuke at the time. It was only after stamping his foot down and demanding his little brother should live was Itachi granted permission to leave one leaf unturned. But that also meant Itachi could spare no one else, and definitely not a young-blooded man or woman near child-birthing age.

The only other culprits could have been Obito and Madara. Both were hellbent on destruction at the time, but Obito had given himself wholly to Rin and the memory of her. Madara had a brother as fitting to the journal description, but Sasuke couldn't imagine that he would take the time to visit Konoha, entertain a peasant girl, and leave without a trace especially in the state that he was in at the time. Old and nearing his last breath. Itachi knew where all the side routes were. He visited occasionally to see how Sasuke was fairing, and most of all, he had his years numbered from a disease. Something to which he told the the girl at very the start.

 _Itachi's son… His son…_

The words echoed over and over again in his mind, and Sasuke couldn't escape the abyss of his own thoughts.

 _The bandages over the boy's face…_ Sasuke wondered.

"Sasuke-kun?" Hinata said.

Before he could investigate and confirm, he needed Hinata to go. The mission may have started out as a quest to find some answers about his clan, but now it had turned into the safety of his blood. The Hidden Leaf didn't need to know about this yet. Not until he could figure out this situation for himself.

"Hinata," Sasuke said. "You should go home. Naruto will be worried about you."

"But I thought you needed my help?"

"I did, and you have," Sasuke said. "There's nothing more I can ask of you and I need you to look over the idiot while I'm away. He's a mess without you."

"I…" Hinata was hesitant to go. Her loyalties when she was called to action ran deep. "Are you sure you don't need my help? If not me, maybe Naruto-kun? Or Sakura-san?"

"Don't be worried about me," Sasuke said. "There's no great threat out there. Just some things I need to get to the bottom of. It concerns me and no one else."

The finality in his voice released Hinata from the honor she was bound to. She nodded softly and her hair fell over her pale-white eyes. His voice was coarse. Rough around the edges. He still needed to work on that.

"Naruto is lucky to have you in his life," he said. "He'd be a fool to ever let you go."

Instead of leading into a stilled silence, Sasuke immediately bounded away. A flash of silver was all it took before Hinata disappeared from sight. He trusted she could find her way back with Byakugan, and besides, he had to find Isui. Dead of night or not, he could not wait a moment longer.

 _Isui…_ Sasuke wondered if that was Itachi's idea. Perhaps when she talked of children, they had talked about names they would name a son or daughter. It seemed like a name Itachi would have suggested. One that paid homage to his best friend who died for the sins of the Uchiha and the Leaf, Uchiha Shisui.

Sasuke wondered if Itachi knew the boy existed. It was likely he didn't otherwise he would've left Sasuke some clue to his existence especially after Sasuke was meant to return to the Leaf after their battle at the Uchiha hideout. Son of the man who killed their clan or not, Isui had no bearing on his father's deeds, and Sasuke understood that better than anyone. And to that, Isui would have been pivotal in helping revive the Uchiha clan as Sasuke had swore by. There would have been no reason to hide the boy from Sasuke if Itachi knew of his existence.

Or perhaps... if Sasuke never learned the truth about his older brother as intended, Itachi may have been trying to hide the boy after all. Would Sasuke have allowed a fragment of Itachi's past to haunt him? Though just a child, he was Itachi's blood. If Sasuke's hate ran too deep, the boy may have suffered his wrath as well.

Itachi had likely left the Fire Country shortly after he had slept with Isui's mother and continued his duties as a double-agent for the Akatsuki. Never one to put people in unnecessary danger, Itachi likely never left her a way of contacting him either. As lovely a person as she probably was, he must not have wanted her to receive the same fate as his first love, Izumi. They likely kept that moment in the rural outskirts of the Konoha forest as only that - a moment of peace in an otherwise chaotic world.

Every time Sasuke thought about the Itachi and Shisui, he felt a surge of anger with nothing to direct it at. They were the two older brothers he deserved. The two mentors he should have had. Through the catalog of countless actions he regretted while he was a rogue ninja, Sasuke could never quite bring himself to feel remorse for killing Danzou. From his orders to Itachi, to the stealing of Shisui's eye, and to the fact that he scavenged Uchiha corpses to collect eyes that did not belong to him, the only justice Sasuke could have found with Danzou was to kill him. There was no jail to hold him, no mercy to be had. Danzou deserved to be slaughtered, and to this day, Sasuke still saw his death as wiping the stain off the Uchiha name.

"Hm?"

Sasuke's ears perked as he felt a strange presence ahead. There was a surge of chakra up ahead in the direction of Isui's village. Not the smoke and wisps of chakra he sensed from the kids the day before, but sharp, strong, and fiery chakra that has been molded like clay.

 _Ninja… Trained Ninja._

Sasuke quickened his pace as he saw the glow of a fire burning in the distance. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, so he sprung forward faster and faster to see for himself.

The screams grew louder and Sasuke darted into the battlefield. The houses were burning. The sky was bright with flame. People were screaming. Children were crying. Everyone was darting from place to place in complete chaos, trying to find some semblance of safety.

"Isui!" Sasuke shouted. "Asami!"

His shouts fell upon deaf ears. Everyone was just trying to save what little they had in the blaze and many were burned and coughing from the smoke because of it. Sasuke's eyes blazed red, and the world moved in a slower spin. The rogue ninjas were no longer there. No ninjas darted in and out of frame.

He could feel the chakra moving east, but he was left with a new set of questions. Why attack the village at all? It was so harmless and they had no valuables apart from gardening tools and tea leaves. So they set the village ablaze for fun?

Sasuke bounded back onto a tall tree and formed the seals. " _Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu_!"

Water spun out in the shape of a mighty dragon and Sasuke led the beast over village like a snake in a coil. The water splashed down onto the flames and dampened the entire ground around them. The dragon roared as it then flew into the sky and dispersed into a thousands of droplets of water, allowing the rain to take care of any simmering ashes that remained.

The village was a charred ruin, but the people came crawling out behind the thicket of the trees and back to their home as soon as the ashes settled. Sasuke grabbed a large branch of wood and tore a piece of cloth off to wrap around the top. With a small amount of chakra for a Fireball technique, he lit the torch and used it as a light around the dampened mess.

"Isui!" he shouted. "Asami!"

"Over here!"

The voice fell far to the outer east edge of the village and Sasuke ran there in a rush. There, he saw Asami pinned underneath the heavy log of a tree, unable to lift it off herself.

She was crying, stammering, and desperate to push it off her chest. Her body was tense, and her breathing became erratic as an earthquake.

"Calm down," Sasuke commanded. "I can help."

With the strength in his voice alone, she managed to ease her clenched shoulders and slow her rushed breaths.

With a strike of lightning, Sasuke dove his hand straight into the bark with a Raikiri and severed it from the rest of the tree. He did the same to the other side of her body until the only piece pinning her down was a log only the size of her waist. Sasuke pushed the log off of her and pulled her away from the debris.

Albeit being soot-filled and covered in dirt, she was still alive.

"Thank you," she said through running tears.

"Where's Isui?"

He appreciated her gratitude, but he needed to find Isui, and that was all that could escape him.

But instead of showing Sasuke to his room, Asami only wept some more. Her hands shook as she tried to wipe the tears that would not stop, and her heated breaths returned to steal her words away.

"Where is he?" Sasuke repeated.

"I tried to…" Asami hiccuped.

"Tried to what?"

"T-to stop th-them."

Sasuke dreaded the next words that would likely meet his ears.

"T-they took h-him," she cried. "Th-they took him away."

* * *

 **A/N:** Ahh Sasuke... just 5 minutes too late, huh? But we're almost there! Chapter 7 of 10. How will the final showdown between Uchihas play out? Will Sasuke be the family Isui needs? Will Isui accept him for who he is?

Reviews welcomed! I love hearing feedback from everyone.


	8. Chapter 8 - Uchiha Isui

**Chapter 8: Uchiha Isui**

Why? Why did they leave a village to burn and people to scramble about to take a child? A ten year old child with no name and no history?

Sasuke had no time to waste. He followed the trails of chakra until it dissipated into nothingness. They were suppressing their presence and even with the Sharingan at his disposal, he could only see so far. Perhaps he shouldn't have set Hinata back. He cursed himself for his lack of foresight. Her Byakugan would've been immensely helpful at a time like this.

But when he took a moment to stop, and feel the flow of the nature chakra around him, he suddenly felt a strangely regular flow of energy emanating from a cave a few kilometers north-east. It was normal for nature to have their own energy flow, but it ebbed and flowed, it never felt like a streamline. The constant stream of energy without irregularities piqued Sasuke's interest. It was almost as if it were a mask. Too perfect of an energy flow to be natural.

Sasuke darted in that direction, knowing the Konoha caves were a maze and one could easily be lost within its confines forever. If they were hiding in a pocket of stone or lake of water, he may never sense them unless they released their chakra.

Sasuke tiptoed into the cave, careful not to make a sound. The rocks were jagged and puddles of water could have been one inch deep or a hundred. The cold air breezed by, whipping his hair back and forth, and the stalagmites above dripped fresh water onto his cloak.

Just beyond the boulder of a large cavern, Sasuke saw the glow of a firelight, and the onslaught of laughter followed.

"What a pathetic village," one of the men said. "No fight in them at all. Lit up like a match."

"Well it's not the Hidden Leaf," another said. "Just a countryside booney that probably doesn't have any real ninjas at all."

"Well then what would an Uchiha be doing there?"

"Beats me. I just can't believe that we can actually give a pair of Sharingan eyes to the boss. We're going to be so rich after this."

Sasuke peeked over the edge of the rock sheltering the men from the rest of the tunnels and caves. A group of twenty men were huddled around a fire pit, eating out of tin cans and roasting fish as if they were glad to share a hot meal after a hard day's work. Twenty men… against a village didn't even train ninjas. How grossly pathetic. Sasuke looked for any form of headguard armguard that signified their alliance to a village, but saw none. They spoke with a heavy drawl which led him to the belief they were rogue ninja from the Earth Country.

Behind their huddle around the fire, Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight. Isui was bound with detonation rope around his wrists, ankles, and body, left to sit against the cold stone wall without a second thought. His charcoal eyes were blank and empty. His face, gray and quiet. His chakra was disturbed. He was under a powerful genjutsu, ripping his mind from his body in an eternal abyss.

"How did you know there was a kid like this in the first place?" one of the men asked. "I thought the entire clan was massacred a long time ago, and the only one left alive is that Sasuke-guy."

"Some guy tied to a post said it. I could tell that he was a high-class ninja and could've escaped very easily. But he seemed more intrigued about convincing the girl to tell him more about the boy with the Sharingan. That's when I knew we hit a jackpot."

"Luckily you did, otherwise he would probably be the one gouging the boy's eyes out and keeping all the money for himself."

"Are we going to just take his eyes or kill him too?"

"Kill him too. We shouldn't leave any loose ends."

Sasuke had heard enough. These were pathetic mercenaries willing to kill a boy for the sake of a few dollars. Perhaps millions considering how rare the powers of an Uchiha are, but no amount warranted killing a boy of only ten, let alone Itachi's son. Sasuke bit his tongue, reminding him to keep that to himself. If they knew were his lineage lay, they might even sell the rest of him like a piece of meat.

"All right, well let's just cut out his eyes for now. I don't want to be carrying the entire thing for the rest of the trip."

"He's only like 70 pounds! Weak."

The moment the rogue ninja stood up, Sasuke leapt into the center of the group. All twenty men jumped back in surprise, but Sasuke didn't even allow them to draw their kunais or shuriken.

With a swift combination of Banshou Tennin and Amaterasu, Sasuke pulled all twenty men into the center of the fold and sliced into their hearts with a flame darker than any night. The spikes of fire shot out in fractals, not allowing a single one of them to recover. He dropped all of the men to the ground. He was going to allow them to die slow and painful deaths with the fire consuming them and their blood escaping them.

"Wh-who…" one of the men managed to cough out.

"Just die..." Sasuke growled.

Why did his name matter? Sasuke felt the rage course through him like a black poison infecting every vein, every blood vessel, every cell. He hadn't felt this sort of anger in years, and it consumed him just as it did back then.

He wanted to send a Chidori current through the man's body so he could feel every cell of his body exploding with pain, but something pressed him away from the meaningless, faceless rogue nin and turned him towards the boy with the glassy-eyed stare.

"Isui! Can you hear me?"

The genjutsu was still in place. As brutish as the men appeared to be, their worst crime was casting a genjutsu capable of becoming an illusion on its own without one to control it. Similar to Kabuto's Edo Tensei that reanimated the dead, unless the one who cast the genjutsu released it, this was going to be a difficult task ahead. And unfortunately, asking a burning, writhing man about to die no matter what, would probably not release the jutsu. Sasuke could practically hear Itachi scolding him now. Sometimes his emotions ran over the better judgement of him and fighting not to kill was simply not an option.

But before Sasuke was about to cast his own genjutsu to counteract the one on Isui, his eyes moved down towards the bandages underneath his eyes. He had to know…

Sasuke moved the white cloth away from Isui's face, and all doubts were confirmed. If there was anything that belonged to his brother, the lines underneath Isui's eyes told him straight away. And the boy before him was undoubtedly the one and only child of Uchiha Itachi.

* * *

 **A/N:** I wrote an alternative version where Sasuke went through a huge battle against these guys, but then I realized there's no way that anyone could really put up a fight with 22 year old Sasuke. Let's be real. After his battle with Naruto at only 17 years old, who else could really match him? Unless it's a 5-Kage type coalition or something, the fight would be very one-sided, and there's no way such high powered people would be raiding small villages and doing mercenary work (unless they are Hidan and Kakuzu).

So I opted for the one-shot, quick blow like I believe Sasuke would've done. Why give these guys a chance to fight back? If they kidnapped his brother's kid, Sasuke would absolutely demolish them in a second. Similar to what Itachi would've done if someone really threatened Sasuke's life.

Anyway, almost at the finale guys! Hope you guys are enjoying it so far! **REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9 - Trapped in an Illusion

**Chapter 9: Trapped in An Illusion**

This was going to be a difficult process without the release of the caster. Difficult, but not impossible. This was a powerful genjutsu to be certain, but definitely no Edo Tensei.

Sasuke opened his eyes with a burst of red light and he tapped into the genjutsu, transporting himself into a world far more distorted than this one. A world of swirling gray, mist, and darkness. He wandered around the foggy plains, searching for any hint of his brother's son.

"Isui!" Sasuke called. "Isui, answer me!"

 _"Who are you?"_ a little boy asked. Only four years old at the most.

Sasuke found the child pulling at his pant leg and staring at him with the same eyes Itachi had. The same lines that dug deep into his skin, but displayed the kindest look when they were wide-eyed and filled with concern. Sasuke knelt down and hugged the poor boy, but the moment he did, Isui disappeared into wisps of smoke.

"Isui!" he called out again. "Follow my voice!"

 _"Who are you?"_ an older boy asked.

This genjutsu they had placed him under was a powerful one, and for a boy as confused and as lost as Isui was, he was a hundred times more vulnerable. Sasuke dared not to run and catch him despite desperately wanting to.

"I'm here to help you," Sasuke said. "Do you remember me? I was the one who knew about your eyes."

"You said they belonged to the Uchiha clan…"

 _He still has fragments of his memories._

A touch of finesse was always required with illusions, but after his brother passed, he learned how to really apply it. The trick to unlocking a genjutsu like this one was not by brute strength alone, as Sasuke never truly mastered the technique until he stepped into Itachi's shoes. There, he understood that sometimes the only person that can break out of the illusion is himself, but they could always use some help.

"That's right," Sasuke said. "You're trapped in an illusion right now. Realizing it isn't enough, but it's a start and I want to help you break out of it. Can you do that for me?"

Isui shook his head.

The next moment, he appeared older. His face grew sterner, his hair flattened downward, and the creases underneath his eyes, ever sharper. He was the spitting image of Sasuke's older brother and Sasuke felt his own weight cave from underneath him, yearning to call him by his brother's name.

 _"I...ta...chi…"_

"Who?" Isui said.

Sasuke shook his head. There was too much to overload the boy at this time, and he needed to focus on breaking the genjutsu before anything else.

"Isui, I need you to release us from the illusion we're in," Sasuke said. "Your eyes should be powerful enough."

"If this is an illusion, then how can I trust you?" he asked.

"Because I saved your village and I'm going to save you."

The older Isui disappeared only to reappear as the ten year old Sasuke had known him to be.

"They threatened to kill everyone…" Isui mumbled.

"The rogue ninjas?"

Isui nodded. "I was trying to fight them off, but there were twenty and they started going after the kids, the elders, _everyone_."

Isui's eyes welled with tears. He wanted nothing more than his village to be safe, and he was powerless to stop it.

"They said if I went to them without a fight, they would spare everyone," Isui said. "Did they?"

Sasuke bit his tongue. The rogues had let the village burn for all they cared. Sasuke didn't know the death count, and even if he did, it was a harsh burden for Isui to bear. Sasuke knew all too well the horrors firsthand that came with a burden such as that.

"Answer me!" Isui demanded.

"They left after they took you," Sasuke said. "I saved the rest of the village from burning, but I don't know how many survived and how many didn't."

Isui fell to his knees, hating himself for not doing enough. For not being enough.

"It's not your fault," Sasuke said, reading Isui's face.

"What?"

Sasuke pulled Isui in so their foreheads touched. "Listen to me. You are enough. You did more than anyone could do in a situation like that. You are enough and will always be enough."

"They… they wanted my eyes... " Isui said. "They kept saying how they would let me go, they only needed my eyes. My eyes for the village."

"Your eyes are very special, Isui," Sasuke said, pulling away from him. "They are a symbol of your clan and the bonds your clan has built over the years. I see it more clearly than I ever have before. You are an Uchiha in every way."

"The last four Uchihas nearly destroyed the entire world," Isui said. "Even I know that."

"Last… three," Sasuke corrected him.

"What?"

"Uchiha Itachi did not try to destroy the world," Sasuke said. "He tried to save it. With everything in his power, he tried _to save it_."

"He's the one who slaughtered his entire clan right?"

"Yes."

"That's evil in its own right," Isui said.

"There are layers to that massacre that are too difficult to comprehend," Sasuke said. "But he was not one of the bad guys. You have to believe me."

"Why?"

"Because I know bad guys. I've been around them a very long time. Itachi may have made some mistakes, but he was not one of them."

"You speak as if you know him personally," Isui said skeptically.

"Because I do," Sasuke said. "Let's get out of here and I'll tell you all that you want to know about the Uchihas. All the things you need to know and all the things you don't. Truth will always be better than an illusion, so I want you to have yours."

"But how do you know so much about the Uchihas?" Isui asked. "There's no way the Sixth has this much knowledge about the clan's history."

Isui was shrewd as expected, and Sasuke couldn't hide it any longer. He could not lie to the boy and he could not sway him from his questions. With this reveal, they may stay in the genjutsu for the end of time or until someone comes to kill them both, but it was a gamble he had to take. Though he understood how much easier it was and how much safer it was for Isui to know a false perception of the truth, he could not follow Itachi's lead in changing the signposts or manipulating the path. He wanted Isui to know everything he needed to create the best identity for himself.

"Because we're the same…"

With a burst of energy, Sasuke opened his eyes, red as the blood moon and shaded as the Rinnegan could shine. Isui found himself collapsing to his knees, shaking with fear.

"You're…" he breathed. "Uchiha… Sasuke."

"And Uchiha Itachi was your father."

* * *

 **A/N:** Ahhh! I can't believe the next chapter will be the last! A possible epilogue to add, but I'm not sure if I want to ruin the last chapter with a glimpse into what happened after... I'll see.

Let me know what you think! And how to do that? REVIEWS! Heh.


	10. Chapter 10 - The Uchiha Gift

**Chapter 10: The Uchiha Gift**

Sasuke took two steps towards Isui to see if he would react. The boy was still trying to catch his breath and hardly noticed. The truth was a cruel one. The world began to spin all around then. The mist shot up, down, side to side, in arrows that whizzed by and nearly slashed Sasuke's shoulder. The boy's mind was collapsing in upon itself. Sasuke had never been inside a genjutsu of a person who had shattered his own reality. The ground started rumbling from underneath them and they were in danger of falling into an abyss. Dangerous was a term far too mild for a situation as this.

"Breathe…" Sasuke echoed. "Calm down and just breathe." His words incidentally mirrored Tobi's and Sasuke was immediately transported to the moment he learned about Itachi's truth and the whirlwind of emotions he felt back then.

Isui couldn't. Glass started shattering around them. Sasuke raised his cloak over them and with it, his Su'sanoo's shield rose with it. Isui could see the powerful emanation of chakra for himself. The blue and purple flames danced wildly above and the mighty warrior looked down at the two of them below.

"You are an Uchiha. A part of the noblest and most powerful clans in existence. A clan that held bonds unmatched to their kin and their village. So strong that their eyes unlocked different powers any time that connection was severed as a defense against whatever came at them next."

"You… You nearly killed Naruto," Isui huffed. "You nearly brought on the destruction of the whole Shinobi world."

"I was wrong," Sasuke admitted. "I should have followed my brother's footsteps the moment I learned the truth about him, but I lost my way. I let my anger and the loss I felt get the better of me, and it took Naruto beating the holy hell out of me to finally lead me down the right path."

"But an Uchiha? I… can't be…"

"Power and loyalty runs in your blood as it did mine. As it did Itachi's," Sasuke said. "Very few others would sacrifice themselves to save their village. That's just what you did and that's what your father did as well."

"H-he murdered his entire clan!" Isui shouted.

"Because the Uchiha had been shunned, humiliated, and targeted themselves. Evil breeds evil, and they pushed the clan into believing they no longer needed the village and all the lives within it. Your father made the impossible choice of choosing the lives of millions over the lives of hundreds. He was the hero that the history books will never recognize, even if the Hokage does himself. But your father never lived a life hating those who hated him. He understood the burden that came with ensuring peace and traveled with the label of traitor and murderer so that others could live with a smile on their face."

"The Leaf ordered him to kill his clan? How could they do that?"

"The Leaf prioritized their people and never thought of the Uchiha as their own. It was a part of their past they'd like to wipe clean too."

The ground stopped rumbling for the moment and the glass stopped breaking apart. Only cracks found themselves crawling up the walls.

"Your father was a good person," Sasuke repeated. "I know it may not seem like it after all the horrible things you've probably heard, but everything he did was for the good of Konoha and the Fire Nation. Even if you don't quite understand it now, I want you to know that above everything else."

Sasuke pulled the boy straight into his arms and embraced him like his own son. Isui remained solid, stiff as a board. He didn't know how to accept Sasuke. At least, not yet.

"Many in the Leaf still despise me and the Sixth for reiterating the history of the Uchiha and the Leaf in the Academy textbooks. No one enjoys looking at a stained past or enjoys a jest from a rivaling country for it, but we had agreed that the best way to honor the Uchiha clan and honor the Leaf is to bring it into the light, so such an event would never happen again."

He continued, "Itachi was my older brother. A man who prioritized the safety of millions over his own blood. He was faced with the most difficult tasks not many others could do. He slaughtered the clan to quell a revolt and became a criminal in the eyes of the world to become the target of everyone's hatred. The Leaf discarded one of their best men to ever grace their land so they could pretend the world was a wholesome place when it was really built on the blood of our ancestors."

"Was the Uchiha clan that evil?" Isui asked.

"No," Sasuke said definitively. "Our philosophies differed, and we were strong enough to pose a threat. The Uchiha believed they were fighting for a place in Konoha instead of being pushed out and cast aside. As partial founders of the Leaf, they deserved that much. If I were older at the time, I would have likely followed my father's footsteps than my brother's and died alongside them. Itachi was easily one of the strongest in our clan only at 13 years of age, but still, he believed in peace. I believed in justice."

"Do you want me to believe in justice?"

"I want you to believe in whichever philosophy you want to believe. I won't sway you to one side or the other. I want you to choose for yourself."

Isui fell silent once again. Comprehending such complicated political and familial strife was a lot for a boy of merely ten years old. Sasuke knew every moment had the possibility of being their last if the rogue ninjas had reinforcements, but he couldn't force the boy to process the situation any faster. Sasuke would sit and talk with him for as long as he needed.

"Your father is Uchiha Itachi of the Hidden Leaf Villlage," Sasuke said. "And you were likely named after his closest friend, Uchiha Shisui, a man equalling Itachi in ideals and values. He possessed one of the most powerful eyes for genjutsu in the history of the clan, and both he and your father shouldered the burden of the Uchiha and the Leaf alone. I don't think Itachi ever forgot the life and sacrifice of Uchiha Shisui."

Still silence. Isui's knees began to weaken.

"Your father is Uchiha Itachi of the Hidden Leaf Village," Sasuke repeated. "He lived as such and died as such. Not a criminal, not evil personified, not anything but Uchiha Itachi of the Hidden Leaf. He was a man who cast aside his own dreams and ambitions for the sake of the Leaf because he loved the people and the country more than anything else. The life and safety of the village became his dream. Only second to being an older brother to me. Something I still struggle with losing to this day."

"But how could you think that?" Isui said. "If he killed his clan and lived as a criminal, he wouldn't have been able to be a brother to you at all."

"He looked after me from the shadows," Sasuke said. "It was the most he could do while balancing his love for the Leaf. No, he wasn't able to be with me, and as much as I try to quell my anger, it always bubbles up now and again when I think of the ignorant people that don't appreciate the peaceful lives they live in Konoha. But as long as I know there's a Hokage at the forefront who understands this, that's the most I can ask for."

"If I had a little brother, I wouldn't want him to go through that," Isui said bitterly. "I would want to be there for him."

Isui's chin was down. His eyes darkened. Sasuke saw so much of his brother in the boy, he was wondering if he had been caught in a genjutsu since he first wandered by their remote village. But he knew this was real. Sasuke's eyes were far too sharp for simple illusions, and the tricks would've worn off with his stamina eventually.

Sasuke raised two fingers and tapped the boy's forehead, prompting him to look up with surprise.

"Forgive me, Isui. I should have found you sooner. I'll do better next time, okay?"

Isui's eyes lingered on Sasuke's as the tap on his forehead radiated a sense of warmth he had never felt before. The boy rubbed his temple and sniffled. As if he had finally accepted the truth for what it was, he nodded and wiped a slight tear from his eye.

"Okay…" Isui said. "Let's get out of here."

Sasuke smiled, and raised his hand to release the seal. With a sudden burst of chakra, the feathers that had been fluttering down around them, dispelled. The pieces of Isui's mind reorganized and snapped back into place. A swirling sensation overtook them, and their bodies lifted away from the glass and cloud prison, returning them to the cave in the Konoha forest.

Light returned to Isui's eyes, and he stared at Sasuke for the longest time as the elder Uchiha began to cut away the ropes binding him. As feeling returned to his wrists and ankles, his hands lay limply on the cave floor just as Sasuke's did when he learned about Itachi's truth from Tobi.

"Isui… I-"

With a sudden burst forward, Isui threw his arms around Sasuke and squeezed him tight. He began to cry though he tried holding it back as best he could. Sasuke patted the boy's back and encouraged him to sob until his heart's content. Maybe Isui believed it wasn't befitting for an Uchiha to be blubbering as he did, but Sasuke didn't care for it. The boy had been wandering around aimlessly for ten years, and now, he had finally found his home.

Sasuke wondered if this was what it felt like when Itachi held him for the first time in the hospital. To know you have a younger brother who needs you more than anything else was a feeling unknown to his heart. Anything Sasuke thought was important, suddenly washed aside. He had always put himself and his goals first, but now they were second. He was supposed to visit the Hidden Sand, but did he really need to anymore? Did he need to fix the problems of strangers before his own? Questions like that circled his head alongside new questions like _'should I bring Isui to Konoha?', 'should his identity be protected?', 'will Naruto help me protect him?'_ In a snap, Sasuke found his whole world centered around the boy, but he held no enmity for being thrown off the beaten path. He felt nothing but warmth - a glow in his heart - and he refused to let it go.

Isui dug his face into Sasuke's shoulder and Sasuke's eyes softened as they never had before. Itachi had come back to him. Not in the way he remembered, but a piece of him returned. A gift for the next generation to carry on his will of fire. And for that, Sasuke was eternally grateful.

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay,I didn't realize it until later that the Uchiha clan massacre is f-ing CLASSIFIED in Boruto. First of all, WTF! If Sasuke was going to accomplish anything in the Naruto series after Itachi's death, it should have been his new mission to bring to light the Leaf's bloodstained past, so they would never allow it to be repeated in the future. UGH, another reason the next generation series is insufferable. #sorrynotsorry

Oh well, in my reality, Sasuke and Naruto worked hard to make this a known part of the Leaf's history so they change the shinobi world for the better, not just leave it as it was.

Bleh. Guess that's why at least I have fanfiction to write that reality.

 **All right guys, this is the end! (maybe an epilogue, I'm still debating). Until next time! Love the reviews, so keep 'em coming!**


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"Excellent marks, Isui!" the instructor applauded. "I can't believe how quickly you've picked up ninjutsu! I'd wager you could be a genin by the end of the year."

Isui sent the academy instructor a brief smile as he retreated to the back of the line. Most of the other boys in his class moved away as he passed. They sent snide sneers in his direction and didn't include him in their games at lunch. Everyone seemed wary of the boy who had arrived out of nowhere, but under the wing of the Sixth Hokage. Questions naturally began to surround Isui and his parents, but with the decree Kakashi gave the top ranks, the concerns only circled in the courtyard and nowhere else.

The girls in the class tried to avoid ostracization and only passed Isui a few cutesy glances here and there, but could never outwardly show their crush towards him. Their faces may have bloomed chrysanthemum pink, but to avoid antagonising the other boys or girls in the class, everyone kept silent.

A solitude Naruto knew all too well.

Sasuke waited outside the Academy until afternoon fell and the bell tolled. All the other children ran out to greet their parents who had come to pick them up, and he found Isui walking at the very back with his hands in his pockets, staring at the ground and lost in thought.

"Isui," Sasuke called. "I'll walk you home."

Isui walked towards the true genius of the Uchiha clan, book bag swaying behind him. Bandages still hid the lines underneath his eyes and he wore a simple shirt of navy blue without any distinctive crest on the back. The two began walking through the main thoroughfare and back towards the small flat Sasuke had secured for the boy.

"If you aren't happy at the Academy, you don't need to go," Sasuke said. "My offer to train you full-time still stands."

"Were you watching me earlier?" Isui asked.

"I've been watching for some time," Sasuke said. "There's no need to stay around small-minded fools, half of which will probably drop out before they become genin."

Isui cracked a light laugh. "You're so protective, Uncle Sasuke."

"What?" Sasuke frowned.

"Mean kids are part of growing up," Isui said. "I can't take you away from your work as the Shadow Hokage outside the village. I'll learn from your mentorship in due time. There's no need to shield me from them now. There's always things for them to learn from me and things for me to learn from them. Adversity. Overcoming it. Protecting those in need even if they hate me for it."

Sasuke let out a soft chuckle and flicked the boy's forehead. "You really are your father's son."

Just behind the corner, Naruto and Sakura were trying to hide their electric yellow and blush pink hair from being seen, but it wasn't easy with such flashy aesthetics. Curiosity got the better of Naruto, and he leaned forward trying his best to listen to what Sasuke and his nephew were saying. Sensing he was about to fall, Sakura stuttered profusely, pulling him back behind the wall just before Sasuke and Isui turned around.

"Naruto!" she hissed. "You'll give us away!"

"But I wanted to know what they're saying!" Naruto whimpered. "Sasuke's been back to the village three times in a single month. That's basically longer than the amount of time he spent in the village for the last eight years! Eight years, Sakura-chan! And now-"

"Shut up!" she screamed, putting her hand over his mouth.

Sasuke had turned back in their direction for a second time. Sakura and Naruto's eyes watered with fear.

"But why did Sasuke-kun task you to look after the boy…" Sakura's face fell flat with jealousy. "Why couldn't he trust him with me? I have good sisterly instincts, don't I?"

"Well that's easy." Naruto laughed. "It's because I'm the only one who can teach him Sexy no Jutsu."

Sakura's fist landed squarely on Naruto's head.

"OW!" Naruto nursed the new bump rising over his spiky blonde hair.

"Don't be a baka, Naruto. I'm serious!"

Naruto looked up at the pale moon above and the clouds that parted from it. His eyes softened. He understood Sasuke better than anyone. Sasuke wasn't trying to hurt Sakura or pick him above her. He just understood Sasuke more than she ever could. And one thing he understood better than anyone was the life Isui was about to live.

"Isui's very important to Sasuke and I think he just wants someone who understands that feeling of loneliness to help Isui whenever he can't," Naruto said. "You've always had family and friends surrounding you, but sometimes it takes an outsider to understand an outsider."

Sakura began madly shaking Naruto by the collar. "TELL ME, NARUTO! Did Sasuke-kun sleep with some other bitch before he returned to the village?! He looks so similar!"

"No!" Naruto screamed to stop the violent shaking. "No! No! No!"

"Then who is he?"

Naruto put a firm palm on Sakura's hand and without malice, he said, "He's just a boy who's very important to Sasuke. And if you ever want to show Sasuke the love you feel for him, you need to accept there are some parts of his life he'll only show you when he's ready."

Naruto had the utmost gratitude for Itachi. He regarded him just as Sasuke did - the unsung hero, the mentor, and the cool older brother of the Leaf that needed no praise for the lives he had saved. Though it was difficult to change the hearts and minds of those still living in the world following the destruction of the 4th Shinobi War, change would come. Itachi was the very definition of a true shinobi to the Leaf and starting with Kakashi-sensei, Naruto would continue reinforcing that from the bottom of his heart. In time, the village would come to see Itachi as the man he truly was, not just as the murderer everyone thought he was. But until then, Naruto would watch over Isui as his own little brother whenever Sasuke couldn't.

"Well I suppose Isui could use an older sister…"

The cool voice paralyzed Naruto and Sakura in their tracks. Chills crawled up and down their spine as they realized they had been caught.

Sasuke and Isui stood beside them with the plainest of faces.

"H-h-how long have you been standing there?" Naruto stammered.

"Depends on how much dango you'll buy me," Isui said shrewdly. "A lot means I was only here the last two seconds. A little… well…"

"Dango?!" Naruto threw his hands on his head in shock. "But I only have coupons to Ichiraku ramen!"

Sakura, sensing this was her only way to brush away the lingering thoughts in Sasuke's mind, grabbed Isui's hand and said, "Dango it is!"

"W-wait Sakura-chan! I want-!" Naruto protested.

"I'll buy you all the dango you want!" Sakura said. "I want you to think of me as the cool older sister, okay?"

"Wait, Sakura-" Sasuke started.

The two had already taken off running, leaving a cloud of dirt kicked up onto Naruto and Sasuke's robes. The two heroes of the 4th shinobi war seemingly outwitted by a kunoichi with a fast hand and a boy of only ten.

"Hah…" Naruto laughed. "About time you let Sakura-chan into your life."

"I'm too protective of Isui," Sasuke admitted. "I've only entrusted you and Kakashi to his secret, and I expect it to remain as such until he becomes of age."

"Of course," Naruto said. "But why?"

"Once other villages realize the heir to Uchiha Itachi's bloodline is still alive, his eyes may be a more valuable asset than mine. It doesn't matter if we're at peace or not, there will always be evil people who do evil things to fit their own agenda," Sasuke said. "Even within our own village, it's far from perfect. It still needs time for its wounds to heal. Itachi's name still sparks discord, and I don't want Isui to bear the burden of that until he can fully fend for himself."

"He's okay with that?" Naruto asked.

"He was the one who suggested it," Sasuke said. "When I showed him to his room, I saw his eyes light up at the prospect of wearing the Uchiha crest on his back, so I could tell how much it hurts for him to keep it under wraps. I have no shame in holding my brother in such a high regard and praising him as he rightly deserves. Isui knows that. He just wants people capable of comprehending the complexity of Itachi's situation to judge him, not the minds of easily impressionable school children. Until then, he's okay with shouldering the title of the new pariah of the playground."

"Even at such a young age…" Naruto chuckled. "He thinks a lot like his father."

Sasuke, having been called a genius for most of his life, had never felt a compliment towards him mean as much as that.

"Now, we have to hurry!" Naruto shouted. "Sakura-chan is going to spoil the kid rotten and he's going to like her more than me!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Ahhh sorry SasuSaku fans, Sasuke is still warming up to the idea of Sakura in this reality. He still trusts Naruto and Kakashi more because they understand him in ways Sakura can't. But she'll get there! Eventually. Her and Isui bonding might just be the start of that.

And thus is the snippet of the life Sasuke would lead with Isui in the village ~ I thought Chapter 10 was a perfect end, but did want to offer a glimpse into what happens next. Hope you enjoyed it! **REVIEW and FOLLOW**! That'd be amazing if you did.


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